ANA Study: Marketers Unhappy With Reorganization- AdAge

Despite widespread and growing reorganization within their marketing ranks, highlighted by trends toward centralization and integration, only 13% of senior marketers say they're "very satisfied" with their companies' marketing structures, according to a survey released today by the Association of National Advertisers.

By Jack Neff

Published: March 04, 2008

BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) -- Marketers apparently can't get enough of reorganization, but they aren't getting much satisfaction from it either.

The study, conducted by research firm Guideline in October 2007 through a survey of 132 marketing executives, indicates reorganization has become something of a way of life at most companies, with 29% of marketers undergoing reorganization and another 39% having done so within the past two years.

Changes don't equal results
For all that restructuring, marketers aren't overwhelmed by the results. Besides the 13% who were very satisfied with their current structures, another 47% were somewhat satisfied, but 18% were neutral and 23% were either somewhat or very dissatisfied. (Numbers don't add up to 100% because of rounding.)

Remarkably, fewer than half (48%) of respondents said structural changes to marketing had actually improved their companies' marketing abilities during the past two years. Another 17% said restructuring had worsened abilities, and 36% saw no change.

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General performance has improved
More than half -- 61% -- said marketing's performance has improved in the past two years. And while only 21% of respondents said they interact with their companies at the C level, marketing executives' evaluation of their influence appears to be growing. The percentage who said marketing leads other functions grew three percentage points to 26% from a similar survey two years ago. And the percentage who said marketing follows or has limited interactions with other functions dropped to 8% from 19% two years ago. The rest of the respondents, in each year, said marketing participates alongside other functions.

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"Companies are clearly moving to rein in dispersed marketing organizations and tightly integrate all the marketing disciplines," Bob Liodice, CEO of the ANA, said in a statement. "However, at this point, creating the optimal marketing organization is still a work in progress."